1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fuel burners and, more specifically, to a burner that produces low NOx levels.
2. Description of the Related Art
Water heaters employ burners to heat water in a tank. Many existing burners generate high temperature flames that cause nitrogen to react with oxygen in the combustion air so as to form mono-nitrogen oxides (referred to as “NOx”), which are pollutants. Some burners employ configurations to reduce heat concentration of the flame, thereby reducing the flame temperature and, thus, reducing the amount of NOx produced during combustion. Many such burners employ complicated systems for combining fuel and combustion air. More specifically, heating systems for natural draft water heaters are more problematic by nature as the flue has very limited draft forcing. The needs for low NOx systems further complicate the situation. Until recently only limited firing capacity could be achieved by low NOx burners that are not fan assisted.
Therefore, there is a need for a simple combustion system that produces low NOx levels during combustion.